Forgiveness to others has benefits

23-24"This is how I want you to conduct yourself in these matters. If you enter your place of worship and, about to make an offering, you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right. Then and only then, come back and work things out with God.

25-26"Or say you're out on the street and an old enemy accosts you. Don't lose a minute. Make the first move; make things right with him. After all, if you leave the first move to him, knowing his track record, you're likely to end up in court, maybe even jail. If that happens, you won't get out without a stiff fine.

Matthew 5:23-26 The Message

14-15"In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can't get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God's part. Matthew 6:14-15 The Message

I want to look at the other side of the forgiveness issue and that would be our forgiving those who do us wrong. The Bible commands us as Christian to forgive those who do us wrong. And if we do not find it in our hearts to forgive we cheat ourselves as God will not accept our offerings nor will He hear our prayers.

14-16Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they're happy; share tears when they're down. Get along with each other; don't be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don't be the great somebody.

17-19Don't hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you've got it in you, get along with everybody. Don't insist on getting even; that's not for you to do. "I'll do the judging," says God. "I'll take care of it."

20-21Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he's thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don't let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good. Romans 12:14-21 The Message

As you can see by the verses I have taken from The Message, there are many benefits from having a forgiving heart.

Forgiveness

Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?

Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. Matthew 18:12-22 KJV

One thing that really breaks my heart is when I do something wrong to someone close to me, and no matter how many times I try to apologize, they will not forgive me. How many times are you required to apologize before someone else is required to forgive you?

According to what I read in the Bible, you are required to forgive immediately without the person apologizing to you. Our prayers aren't even going to be answered if we have anything against our fellow Christians, which is one of the reasons the Church has very little power nowadays.

Churches and families have split over some of the dumbest reasons and people not willing to forgive over things. Whether it's a church or a family the hurt over this never heals and there are some very ugly scars left, usually in the form of appearance in the community.

Forgiveness doesn't change the past, but it sure does make the future easier.

Blogs of Note

I noticed as I was reading the prayer requests here that I had a new visitor. Elizabeth, or ekelly, has a relatively new blog, called Elizabeth'sChristianBlog. I would guess, by reading her words, that Elizabeth is a relatively new Christian. She seeks fellowship with other believers, so go on over there and give her a look see.

Elizabeth came here through Kathy's Klavier. Kathy has a guest poster right now, her husband, Eddie. He is sharing his testimony with all of us, how the Lord helped him through disease when he was in his early 20's. This promises to be a very inspirational series. Kathy has also left a couple of prayer requests here.

If you have a prayer request, let us know and all who read them will take them to the Lord on your behalf. If you feel a burden to pray for the requests, click on the link on the upper right on the side bar.

Do you work to please God?

The "Faith and You" column written by Terry Pluto from this past Saturday's Cleveland Plain Dealer is titled "The way we work says something about how we live." Terry touches on things we do at work and that we should be glorifying God in the way we work. One of the examples Terry uses is when we are trying to show how spiritual we are by reading our Bibles when we should be doing our jobs. Workplace gossip is also touched upon in this article. the story is well worth a read so check it out.

Cliff Note:Also remember Terry Pluto is the featured author. He has written many books about sports, as he has been a sports writer for the past 30+ years. He has been a Christian since 1997 and has written two faith books, "Everyday Faith" and "Faith and You." click on the links on the sidebar for more information about how to order these books.

Seek Him First Prayer Request List

This is something else I had thought about this weekend.

Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.- Matthew 18:19 KJV

Many of us, including myself, have prayer requests which we share with other bloggers. It may be on our blogs, or it may be via e-mail.

I would like to use the comment section of this post for prayer requests that you may have. I will also link this specific post to both my blogs and invite anybody else to link this specific post to their blogs as prayer reminders.

So use the comment section to record your prayer requests. Please, nothing else but prayer requests. If you record one here and like for it removed later, contact me, or if you are logged in just click on the trash can which would appear on your comment.

Perhaps there will be a follow up post on answers to prayer where we can all praise God for His answer and to give Him the glory.

May God bless you for your faithfulness.

Awesome Responsibility

Yesterday I was going through my email and get this note from Annie, who writes a blog called Annie's Antics. Like this blog, she uses hers to glorify God. She stopped here as a result of a Google search and landed on a post I wrote on January 20 of this year, called Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord. Annie told me that this post had spoke to her and wanted to tell me how much this blog had blessed her.

I originally wrote that post because a friend was going through a real mess. I had thought of her when I wrote that, but the comments bore the fact that it touched others too.

It's an awesome responsibility when God uses your efforts to touch others that you don't know.

One of the reasons that I changed my template here was to make these words easier to read. I will look for other things here to change to make things easier.

I don't want to be fancy, just faithful.

Seeking God, Making Changes

Cliff Note: I have some changes in mind for this blog and they are under construction in my head. I will proceed as the Lord directs.

Today is the day I will go see Terry Pluto at the Wadsworth Library. Chances are when he gives his talk on his latest book I will have to view it on closed circuit television in another room in the library, but afterwards he will sign some of his books. I bought one last night to mail out. I also have one for him to sign for me. The book is special because it belonged to my brother.

Last week, in Terry's "Faith and You" column in the Cleveland Plain Dealer Terry's topic was Trusting God's will can stir big changes-inside of us. Terry writes about Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus, in a very intense prayer session, asked God three times, to "take this cup from me"-if it was God's will. Jesus was getting his heart ready to fulfill the mission he was sent to the world for.

Terry then writes about people who pray to God and expect God to change. But effective prayer will be to have God change us.

One thing that was touched on briefly was Terry taking care of his father after he had suffered a debilitating stroke. To those who reside out of the area, I would like to suggest a book called "Our Tribe." It tells of the relationship between Terry, his father, and their shared love for the Cleveland Indians. No matter which team you root for, you will be touched by the story of Terry Pluto and his dad, Tom.